The director is under renewed pressure after Sunday's 3-0 defeat to Manchester City at the Carabao Cup final and morale in the dressing room is at a low ebb. The players held a meeting after Tuesday's training session -- the first one following the Wembley debacle -- where senior members of the group voiced their frustrations and encouraged everyone to pull together. They sponsor City in the Premier League in the Emirates Stadium on Thursday night. Wenger has long been the focal point for supporter angst and the single most significant issue at the club today worries whether he'll continue into next season and thus fulfill his two-year thing. The Frenchman, 68, is equally annoyed and exasperated at the very question. He's never failed to honor a managerial contract in his long career and he has no plans to break the habit.

However, the inference from him was he'd leave if Kroenke were to sack him. "I've been here for 21 years and I admired my contract, so I'm quite surprised that you ask me the question," Wenger said. What I did in my life was that [honor contracts], so I'm quite surprised that you ask me the question. "If you want me to not be here, that is another issue. "In life, you concentrate on the level of your job. How nicely you commit, how hard you work and you attempt to master what you are able to master. What's above you ... You won't determine your future in your papers and I am just like you. judi bola

Wenger brought up the tasks he'd turned down throughout his Arsenal tenure to fortify his devotion and dedication. He has indicated he said no to Real Madrid and Paris St-Germain, amongst others. "I turned the entire world down to honor my contracts," Wenger said. "So I'm still amazed that I still need to answer these kinds of questions." He faces an in-house inspection at the end of the season and the team has an eye on replacements if it is determined he must go. His very best chance of salvaging the season -- and Champions League qualification -- would seem to lie at the Europa League, where Arsenal play Milan in the last 16. They're 27 points behind the league leaders, City, and 10 supporting the branch's fourth-placed team, Tottenham.

"Honestly, that is the final worry I have right now. My worry is to concentrate, to get the team prepared for tomorrow's game. "Can it prevent you to sleep that my position is unclear or wouldn't be sure or is certain? No. What's interesting in soccer is the performances of soccer, the sport you'll see on Thursday night. All the rest may make headlines but it's not really interesting." For the umpteenth time, Wenger is known for view after a damaging defeat. He reminded his audience Arsenal hadn't lost to a group at "the bottom of the league in division five", instead of one which was dominating English football. It was plain that he felt that the response was overblown.

"I'm quite amazed it's such an earthquake that we've lost a closing," Wenger said. "It means we've our fans used to visiting Wembley and winning. Wenger stood his ground in the face of the criticism, which was directed by Gary Neville on Sky Sports, who clarified Arsenal as "spineless" and questioned why a number of the players were walking rather than tracking back."You find in each and every game, on either side, moments where a participant doesn't monitor," Wenger said. "You've got to analyze why. Has he made two runs before to go in supporting and was tired, or did he not monitor because he did not want to?

Lucy Bronze believes England's rise to the apex of women's soccer has served a critical warning to their rivals in the lead-up to the World Cup next summer. Though the sacking of Mark Sampson as director threatened to crack and unsettle the group, the arrival of Phil Neville five months ago and the debut of former captain Casey Stoney as a part of his training staff have helped refocus heads with the World Cup in France next summer. Yet Bronze, who last summer became the first player to combine the Champions League winners Lyon that is four-times, is in no doubt. "That is different. I would not say people disregarded us a little although we were a joke as such.

They did not have an enormous amount of respect for us. They did not think we could play soccer, although they knew we'd be physical, we are. "Now, they are aware we have more angles to our match. We are not here to make the numbers up. To have attained semi-finals that are back-to-back is an achievement. There are not many teams that have held that degree of consistency, but it still leaves a sour taste in the mouth to haven't gone on to achieve a final and that needs to be the goal at the World Cup. We've never entered a tournament not needing to win, but we will be among the favorites." agen sbobet terpercaya

Leaving England for France was a massive movement for Bronze -- and women's soccer in this country considering Lyon's prestige and trophy cabinet -- although the change is already paying substantial dividends. "I believe I've got a little more composure on the ball," said the 26-year-old, who confessed a number of the younger members of the England squad have had to resort to YouTube to find out about Neville's acting career. "I play with a few of the greatest players on the planet every day so I must be getting better. It is a challenge, I must push myself every single day simply to hold my own technique.

I awaken in the morning with scrapes and bruises. The English league, even though it's one of the better leagues, it is more physical. The French league is much more specialized. Which is great, because that's what I went there for. I wanted to get better." A participant leaving a water bottle on the pitch at the end of the first training session may seem trivial however the 41-year-old distinctly felt differently, something with which his former manager Sir Alex Ferguson would surely agree. "I have tried to raise the bar concerning every aspect of functionality and so far what I have noticed is they have risen to every challenge I've set them apart from leaving a water bottle on the training pitch, which I was not pleased about," said Neville, who hauled the guilty party off the team bus to correct her mistake. "Doing this is unheard of so we spoke about the criteria that I want out of them as a group, the type of thing that was instilled to me from my parents, from the directors that I played.

"The small things matter. They're on top of timekeeping but I am a stickler for standards. We are going to be in it together from the kit man to the safety of the media. Then most of us share it together. They understand full well. They need me to pull them on matters like that. Having said that, I have been really amazed by the criteria they've set themselves and how they've policed themselves -- that is even more significant."